James W. Pennebaker, of the University of Texas, Austin, says these phrases are a form of dishonesty

A friend of mine recently started a conversation with these words: "Don't take this the wrong way…"

I wish I could tell you what she said next. But I wasn't listening—my brain had stalled. I was bracing for the sentence that would follow that phrase, which experience has taught me probably wouldn't be good.

Certain phrases just seem to creep into our daily speech. We hear them a few times and suddenly we find...